A parking operation for parking a vehicle generally involves steering and reverse maneuvering in a small space, thus requiring relatively high maneuvering skill. Then, in order to alleviate the trouble for the diver during parking operation, various types of parking assist systems and maneuvering assist systems have been proposed. Patent Document 1 identified below discloses an invention relating to a parking assist system for assisting a maneuvering operation including a forward movement to a reverse start position and subsequent reverse movement with steering to park the vehicle at a predetermined parking position.
A driver of a vehicle mounting this parking assist system, in order to confirm an empty parking space, stops the vehicle temporarily at a position where the driver can see this parking space substantially directly laterally from the driver's seat. After this temporary stop, the driver maneuvers the vehicle forward, along an arcuate path toward the reverse start position. Being “triggered” by this temporary stop, the parking assist system calculates a moving amount of the vehicle moved forward toward the reverse start position. Then, the driver stops the vehicle at a position when the driver determines, by visual estimation, the vehicle has reached a position where the turning of the vehicle is possible enough. Then, the driver switches the shift lever into reverse. Upon detection of completion of this switching of the shift lever, the parking assist system calculates a parking target position and a guiding path. More particularly, the system effects image recognition of a white line(s) indicative of the parking space and then determines the parking target position, based upon the result of this recognition. The system then calculates the guiding path, based upon this parking target position and the position of the vehicle stopped at the reverse start position.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application “Kokai” No. 2006-175918 (see paragraphs Nos. 38-51, etc.)